As far as we know, Shenmue 3 will take place entirely in Mainland China, in the 80s.
That got me thinking, I wonder how much, if at all, the game will portray some of the stuff that one would expect to see in communist China.
For instance, people wearing Mao suits, which were extremely common, both for men and women, at that time. For those who don't know, I'm talking about this .
Also, another thing that anyone who has ever been to China will tell you is that, even nowadays, ugly-as-sin red slogan banners (known in China as 横幅标语, "hengfu biaoyu") are all over the fucking place. Often, the message is not even political anymore, but they are still an extremely common sight.
We could even see some wall writings, left over in some of the buildings, from the time of the Cultural Revolution (1966 - 1976). One famous example are the ones seen in a beautiful ancient village, just outside Beijing city (but still in Beijing municipality), called Cuandixia , which I've been fortunate to visit.
Here are a few examples , saying such things as "Let us make use of Mao Zedong Thought to arm our minds" and "Hold high the great red flag of Mao Zedong Thought and forge valiantly ahead!"
Personally, I don't think we'll see any of this (especially any reference to the Cultural Revolution, which is something of a sensitive topic), as Shenmue seems to stay away from any political references and seems like it will focus more on China as a traditional, mystical place of kung-fu and whatnot. Not to mention that none of the character designs we've seen so far sport a Mao suit, which is understandable, as they want to create unique and visually appealing characters and if the majority of the NPCs wore Mao suits, that would be quite boring, no matter how accurate.
Still, I'm curious to see if the game will acknowledge that side of China at all.